THE MOST TRAGIC ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION –
MOCKERY OF JUSTICE IN BHOPAL GAS LEAK CASE
More than 25 years after this world’s worst industrial diaster, the deadly gas leak of Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal which has since killed 15,134 and affected 5.74 lakh people, a local court on 7th June, 2010 held former chariman of UCs India arm, Keshub Mahindra, and six others guilty under bailable sections of the IPC and sentenced them to two years in prison. The accused were fined about Rs. 1 laksh each and immediately granted bail.
The seven held guilty were all officials of Union Carbide India Limited and included its former vice-chairman, Vijay Gokhale. In a verdict that political parties and victims’ organisations called a travesty of justice, the accused were pronounced guilty under sections 304(A) (death by negligence), 336 (engangering the life and safety), 337 (causing hurt) and 338 (grievous hurt) of the IPC.
The court of the chief judicial magiastrate (CJM), P.Mohan Tiwari, where the verdict was pronounced, had been sealed with police officials blocking every door, allowing no mediaperson or repreentative of victim’s organisations to witness the proceedings.
The case dates back to December 1, 1987, when the CBI prosecution filed its chargesheet in the criminal case before the court of the CJM Bhopal. The 12 accused included Union Carbide Corportion, Union Carbide (Easters) Hong Kong, Union Carbide (India) Limited and top officials of the three companies. The chief accused was the chairman of Union Carbide Corporation USA, Warren Anderson, who did not come to face trial in India. Neither did Union Carbide Corporation or Union Carbide (Eastern) Hong Kong. The CBI termed these accused as absconding.
This is the first time that anyone has been criminally convicted for the disaster, which took place on the intervening night of December 203, 1984. Abotu 40tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a tank in the Union Carbide plant located in a thickly populated area of Bhopal, exposing more than 5 lakh people to its deadly effects. As part of the compensation deal with Union Carbide, the Centre had decided to drop all crimial charges in 1989. The case was revived in 1991 on the plea of the victims.
Anderson : The Man who got away
Warren Anderson was the chairman and CEO of Union Carbide Corporation at the time of the incident. Yet, he did not figure among those convicted on Mondy. He was arrested and released on bail by the Madha Pradesh police on December 7, 1984. He flew to Delhi and from there to the US, never to return. He was declared a fugitive in February 1992 as he ignored court summons. The us rejected a plea for his extradition in 2004. Although the CBI declared him an absconder and said he was untraceable, Anderson was tracked down in Long Island, US, by activists five years ago.
Supreme Court shot down move to slap tough charges on the accused
It will be unkind to blame the trial court for handing out mild punishments to the Bhopal gas leak accused whose collective negligence caused an industrial catasgrophe that has affected more than 5 lakh people.
For the court’s decision to frame charges against them under Section 304-II of IPC - that attracts a maximum jail term of 10 years - was set aside by the Supreme Court itself on September 13, 1996.
Appearing for the CBI, then additional solicitor general Altaf Ahmed had argued before the SC that the accused knew about the potential danger of the lethal gas escaping and hence should be tried under the stringent provision.
“ There was ample material produced by the prosecution in support of the chargesheet which indicated that all the accused shared common criminal knowledge about potential danger of escape of the lethal gas - MIC - both on account of the defective plant which was operated under their control and supervision at Bhopal and also on account of the operational shortcomings detected by the Varadarajan expert committee,” Ahmed had said in court.
It is a tragedy that the accused, due to their negligence and carelessness, who were responsible for this greatest disaster in which 15,134 people died and nearly 5.7 lakh of people victimised, was let off merely with a punishment of 2 years of sentence that too after a period of 26 years.
Similarly an agreement was entered into by the Government of India with the Union Carbide Corporation for the payment of 470 million dollalrs as compensation to the victims. Even this pittance of the compensation was not paid to the families of the victims in time.
